Government of Armenia

Powers of Government granted by Constitution

Resignation of the Government and its formation

Following the Article 55 of the Armenian Constitution, the Republic’s President must accept resignation of the government on the day of

1. first sitting of newly elected Nation Assembly
2. Assumption of the Office by the President of the Republic
3. expression of the vote of no confidence to the Government
4. resignation of the Prime Minister
5. vacant position of Prime Minister

Later on the Prime Minister must be appointed by the President of the Republic. The elected Prime Minister should enjoy the confidence of the majority of the Deputies. Ministers must be appointed within 20 days after Prime Minister is appointed. After this the Government is considered to be formed. All the ministers, including the prime minister, must be citizens of the Republic of Armenia. The structure of the Government must be defined by law. The procedure for the organization of operations of the Government and other public administration under the authority of the Prime Minister.

The role of the Prime Minister is that it should oversee the Government’s activities, coordinate the work of the Ministers and it should adopt decisions on the organization of Government. In addition, decisions passed by the Government must be signed by the Prime Minister. The president has the right to suspend governmental decisions for a month of compliance with the constitution. Government decisions regarding the resolution of the governors must be approved by the President.

The president has a right to prompt and head government sittings of issues of defense, foreign policy or national security.

The mission of Government

According to article 85 of the Armenian constitution, the Government shall develop and implement the policy of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Armenia.

By virtue of the Constitution, the international treaties, the laws of the Republic of Armenia, or the decrees of the President of the Republic and to ensure the implementation of the Government shall adopt decisions, which shall be subject to compliance in the whole territory the Republic “

Responsibilities of the Government

As it is defined in Article 89 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia the Government shall:

1) submit to the National Assembly for approval under Article 74 of the Constitution;

2) submit the draft budget to the National Assembly for approval, ensure the execution of the budget and submit financial reports to the National Assembly;

3) manage the state property;

4) implement unified state policies in the areas of finance, economy, taxation, loans and credits;

4.1) implement the state territorial development policy.

5) implement state policies in the areas of science, education, culture, health, social security and environmental protection;

6) ensure the implementation of the defense, national security and foreign policies of the Republic;

7) ensure maintenance of law and order, take measures to strengthen the legal order and ensure the rights of citizens;

8) other functions and powers provided by the Constitution and laws.  ^[1]

Program and Budget of the Government

The Article 74 of the Constitution of Armenia states that the formation of the National Assembly of the Republic. Later on the National Assembly should discuss and vote for the approval of the program. The President shall dissolve the National Assembly if it does not give an approval to the program of the Government.

The government will submit the draft budget to the National Assembly at least to the beginning of the fiscal year. The Government may put forward a motion of its confidence in the adoption of the budget. If the National Assembly does not express any confidence in the Government, then the budget shall be adopted by the Government shall be adopted.

If the National Assembly expresses no confidence in the Government in conjunction with the draft budget, the new Government shall submit the draft budget to the National Assembly under the terms of the approval of its program. This draft shall be debated and voted on by the National Assembly within the meaning of this Article.  ^[2]

Restriction on members of Government

According to Article 88 of the Armenian Constitution „A member of the government can not be engaged in the office of a professional or in a state of the art of self-government. creative, and academic activities. “  ^[2]

Powers on local self-governed communities

Articles 109 and 110 of Armenian Constitution state that the Government may remove the Head of Community in cases prescriptive law on the basis of the conclusion of the Constitutional Court. The communities may, based on the interests of the public, be merged with each other or separated by the law. The appropriate law shall be adopted by the National Assembly on the recommendation of the Government. Before submitting the legislative initiative, the local government shall refer to these communities. The outcomes of the local referendum will be attached to the legislative initiative. The communities may be merged or separated irrespective of the outcomes of the local referenda.  ^[3]

Regional governors

Based on Article 88.1 Regional governors are appointed and dismissed by decisions of Government and they are validated by the President. The Regional Governors shall pursue the territorial policy of the Government of the United States.  ^[3]

Powers regarding legislative initiatives

The Government has a right of legislative initiative. They have the right to determine the sequence of the lawsuit and the lawsuit they have.

The Government may put forward a motion on confidence in the Government in conjunction with the adoption of a draft law proposed by the Government. If within twenty-four hours of the government of the United States, the answer to the question of confidentiality is one of the following: in the Government is adopted by the majority of the total number of Deputies the draft law proposed by the Government shall be adopted. However, the Government may not be in a position of confidence in a single session.  ^[3]

Current government

The incumbent government of Armenia is a coalition government FORMED by Republican and ARF party and is led by Karen Karapetyan . It was appointed on September 27, 2016 by President Serzh Sargsyan upon the resignation of the Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan .

Historical

Each of the three Armenian Republics had an executive branch on the time of its existence that was led by a prime minister. Current prime minister is Karen Karapetyan who leads the office since September 13, 2016 after the resignation of Hovik Abrahamyan .

The Prime Ministers of the Third Republic

						1995- "The men of the year" of ABI (American Biography Institute).1998- "The men of the millennium" from UN and Cambridge Biography Center.2005-Honorary Doctor of the Yerevan State Economics Institute2006-Independent journalists recognized the best economic public of Armenia for the whole period of independence.

						1996-1998-RA Government, Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister1998-1999-RA National Assembly Speaker1999-2000-RA Minister of Territorial Administration
						
							[14]
						

^[17]

The Prime Ministers of the Republic of Soviet Armenia

The governmental structure of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic is similar to that of the other Soviet republics. It is mentioned in the article 79 of USSR constitution „The highest executive and administrative organ of state power of a Union Republic is the Council of People’s Commissars of the Union Republic“. The Council was formed by the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic, which was the only legislative body in the Union Republic and the highest organ of State Power. The Council of the following positions

• Chairman
• Vice Chairman
• Chairman of the State Planning Commission
• People’s Commissars-of:
• Food industry, light industry, agriculture, finance, internal trade, justice, education, municipal economy, public health etc.
• The Representative of the Committee of Agricultural Stocks
• Chief of the Board of Arts
• The Representative of the All-Union People’s Commissariats

The Council issued orders and decisions and supervised their execution. The Council was responsible and accountable to the Supreme Soviet of the Union of the Union and the Union of the Supreme Soviet, the Council was responsible and accountable to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The Council of People’s Commissars controlled those branches of state administration within the jurisdiction of the Union Republic. It issued within the limits of the respective jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariats, orders and instructions. The Council of People’s Commissariats of a Union Republic were either Union-Republic or Republican Commissariats. Union-Republican controlled those branches of the state that were entrusted to them and were subordinated to the Council of People’s Commissars of the Union Republic and the appropriate Union-Republic People’s Commissars of the USSR. The Republican Commissariats have again been appointed to the Council of People’s Commissars of the Union Republic.

The Prime Ministers of First Republic

On May 30, 1918 The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) decided that Armenia must be a republic under a provisional coalition government. It was decided that the Republic should have its own constitution and self-governing system. The government of the Republic is headed by Prime Minister. He was chosen by the National Council of Armenia. Later on the Prime Minister himself formed his cabinet. Prime minister was accountable for international, domestic and regional issues. The first Prime Minister became Hovhannes Katchaznouni whose cabinet was made up of five members, all of which were from ARF. In addition, a ministry of interior was created, whose first head was Aram Manukyan. The ministry of interior was responsible for domestic problems. Its key responsibilities were to create a public school system, a railroad system, communication and telegraph systems, also responsible for enforcing law and order. All these responsibilities have been controlled by a specific department, each of which has become separate.

Prime Minister had direct involvement in regional and international issues. Hamazasp Ohanjyan, the third prime minister, and Avetis Aharonian left for Berlin trying to reassure relations between Turkey and Armenia. Unfortunately none of them succeeded to achieve his goal.  ^[28]